The Great Solar Eclipse of 2017 crossed the continent, from Oregon to South Carolina, and gave millions of people the chance to witness one of the most awe-inspiring events in the natural world.

But you had to be within the "path of totality", a narrow band across the earth's surface several thousand miles long but only about 70 miles wide. Outside that band you would only see a partial eclipse, not a total eclipse.

And there is no such thing as a "partial total eclipse", despite the impression blogs and the news media might give. I honestly think that's why so many people misunderstand the utter beauty of the spectacle; they may have seen a partial eclipse in the past that was total somewhere else, and even though they weren't in the path the news kept gushing about it being a total eclipse, so they assume they must have seen a total eclipse and just didn't find it all that impressive.


Posted by Dan 08/29/2017, revised 09/06/2017

The last two years of pandemic uncertainty have instilled in me a newfound fear of shrinking opportunities, coupled with the acute awareness that time, experiences and human connection are precious. As the summer of 2022 approached, I found myself unable to say no to anything.

...But, as author Jim Collins says:
"If you have more than three priorities, you don't have any."

I wasted no time saying yes to IRONMAN 70.3 Oregon in Salem. It was a new race on the IM calendar, appearing exactly 20 years after I had graduated college in Salem. How could I pass this up?!

It also provided the chance to redeem myself after the disappointing bike split in North Carolina, a performance that did not seem appropriate to the level of fitness I had built.

Meanwhile, coaching opportunities were rolling in faster than I could keep up with, and I had eagerly booked travel to all the third iteration pandemic weddings and social events that had sprouted up on the calendar every other weekend. June hit me like a freight train, with 14 hour work days and 48 hour whirlwind weekend trips out of town. I squeezed in runs when I could but bike training was impossible with all the time away from home (I did, however, get to try out a Peloton. It was fun). Six weeks of trying to be everywhere at once had flown by and when I finally had a moment to focus on Oregon 70.3, it was only two weeks away ...

And then I got COVID.


Posted by Kimberly 07/15/2022

Chiang Mai:
Chiang Mai was fun. We stayed for four days. It is much better than Bangkok.

Pai:
We travelled to Pai on the recommendation of fellow travellers, hearing only good things from people who we had reason to trust. We were not disappointed. Pai is a small town nestled in the northern hills of Thailand, very close to the borders of Burma and Laos.

The hills around Pai

Posted by nik 10/31/2008, revised 11/05/2008

Almost everyday, I see an animal I've never seen before. I carry my camera almost everywhere with me in the event that I can catch one of these guys in digital format to share with all of you, but it's usually pretty hard to make them stay in one place while I dig through my bag to get my camera out.

The animals are so different and exotic looking to me that every time I see a new one, I feel like I'm seeing something that's near-extinct, something that nobody's seen in the wild for the last two decades, something that hasn't been caught on camera in over 45 years! I get so excited and start scrambling for my camera, because WHAT IF THIS IS THE LAST ONE OF THESE STRANGE-LOOKING THINGS THAT EXISTS??

And then passers-by smirk and tell me it's a common brushtail possum. Not just a brushtail possum, but a common brushtail possum... I looked it up - the "common" wasn't just to spite me, it's actually in the name. I did not find the last living wild Kirwaddledoopinger. Just a common brushtail possum that was trying to steal chocolate from a lunch bag at the base of a tree on campus.

Common brushtail possum on campus

Posted by Whitney 03/08/2008, revised 03/10/2008